If I ever get around to writing my Vietnamese novel it will ooze with snippets about food. Foremost it will mention my most memorable sweet treat; hot sugarcane fished from a drum of steaming ginger syrup on a freezing night on a mountain track above Bac Me where, with a huddle of villagers, we squat around a fire and gnaw.

There’s a lot of interest right now in pediatrics in figuring out how electronic media affects young kids’ brains, learning styles and habits — especially toddlers who are attempting to get a handle on spoken language. There is also ongoing interest in how relationships with good books and stories affects their cognitive and social growth.

Robert McCrum, critic for the Observer, wrote of Sebastian Barry’s latest novel: “Some novels sing from the first line, with every word carrying the score to a searing climax, and Days Without End is such a book.”

Our Bookworm staff usually read fiction and biography, so to get an insight into recommended non-fiction books we polled three of our customers who always choose fascinating titles. They collaborated with us to mini-review their favourite reads for 2016.

Now that the US Presidential election is over, and with it, Hillary Clinton’s political career, it is a good time to examine books which reflect her belief that women can achieve what they want and more.

A rare literary and botanical gem recently came into our possession. It’s a 1990 collaboration between the World Health Organization and the Institute of Materia Medica, Hanoi. It’s 400 pages, in English, and contains a wealth of information about Medicinal Plants in Viet Nam.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the acronym that makes your mouth feel full of marbles — lgbtqi (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender — queer/questioning, intersex) — disappeared; if rainbows took back their real meaning; the word gay once again meant bright and happy; pride referred to a group of lions or to deep pleasure and satisfaction; you stepped outdoors if coming out; people could marry whoever they wanted, and same-sex marriage no longer deflected media attention from important issues.